By EDWARD SEVERN, Staff Writer
BROWNSVILLE — The Brownsville St. Joseph Bloodhounds battled the Laredo St. Augustine Knights to open their district campaign Wednesday night.
Bloodhounds junior Gerry Martinez hit a big 3-point play down the stretch and was money from the charity stripe late to help give his team the 56-48 win.
“It is a great win for us. I have a lot of respect for St. Augustine and coach (Rodrigo) Romo,” St. Joseph coach Sam Lucio said. “They are one of the best teams in the state, and every time we play them it is a dogfight. Both teams played great basketball. It was a good game.”
The Bloodhounds (22-4, 1-0) started off hot, especially from downtown. Seniors Bernie Garza and Luigi Cristiano were big contributors early and often. Garza was money from deep, and Cristiano dominated the paint.
After St. Joseph opened the game with a 12-3 lead, the Knights (19-6, 0-1) battled back and went on a 16-2 run. They were led by Estevan Barrientos, Diego Romo, Chris Ramirez and Rafael Garcia. Barrientos and Romo hit big three-point shots, and Ramirez and Garcia got good production at the basket.
The Bloodhounds regained the lead before the halftime break and were up 30-25 going into the locker room. Both teams rarely went to the bench, and those tactics carried into the second half.
During that half, SJA kept St. Augustine at arms’ length, answering baskets made by the Knights. In the fourth quarter, with the game tied at 40, Garza hit two big 3-pointers to give his team a 46-40 lead. He finished with 16 points.
The Knights again answered. Barrientos, arguably their best player, hit two big 3-pointers to tie the game at 46. Both teams played very intense basketball, got up and down the court well and did not allow each other to push the tempo and open up the game.
After a Josh Cisneros free throw gave the Bloodhounds a one-point lead, Martinez drove to the basket and finished while getting fouled. His 3-point play gave St. Joseph a four-point lead and the distance it needed late to put the game out of reach.
The Bloodhounds are ranked third in the state. The TAPPS Class 5A school will hope that this win against eighth-ranked St. Augustine will help lift SJA for future district games, including the rematch in Laredo.
“Obviously, our No. 1 goal is to win district,” Lucio said. “We know it is going to be a fight every game, teams are going to be coming for us. We travel a lot in district — Victoria, Corpus, Laredo. Those games are tough on us because of the travel. It is tough, we got to show up every day and work hard in practice, and take each game one at a time.”
The St. Joseph girls also pulled off a big win earlier Wednesday, defeating the Lady Knights 85-20.